Summary

This is the story about an oppressed girl who suppressed herself... and what it took for her to reach the threshold of change.

As children, Kade Kallio and Asami Sato were friends. However, things changed after Asami's mother was murdered by a bender and Kade discovered she was one. Having been raised with Equalist ideology, the idea that elemental manipulation shouldn't exist, Kade vowed to never use her powers and instead focused her mind on helping non-benders with technology. Years later, Kade is employed by Future Industries and reunited with Asami. They become friends but when trouble brews at their company, Kade questions herself and is forced to choose between strength, love and justice.

Prologue

Kade had never seen anything like it.

Standing outside in the cold, she peered through a glazed window of an ice palace. She was already in awe at the architecture but the spirit inside, standing in what seemed to be the main foyer and peering into a mirror, looked like a giant made of ice and snow. The Spirit World sure was full of surprises. She studied some of the theoretical science behind it, enough to harness spirit power like the famous inventor Varrick had done to create the world's most powerful weapon. However, she hadn't actually interacted with the spirits before on a personal level. She wasn't sure she wanted to try just yet either.

Kade had walked nearly two hours through snow-covered forest to reach this glimmering fleck on the side of the mountain, hoping to find someone to point her home. She was lost and all she had to wear was her red engineering jumpsuit, black utility belt, electrified glove and matte black-framed, single-lens prescription goggles. While the suit was made of heavier material for its fire retardant properties, being outside for a long time in the wintery environment made it seem like she wasn't wearing anything at all. Kade shivered, wishing she knew how to lava bend. Her electrified glove could have provided her with a spark to make fire but the circuit board seemed to be fried from the explosion. Despite the various metals stashed in her utility belt, without a working calculator (her pocket-sized one was broken too) and some test equipment, she couldn't make the components needed to fix it. She made a mental note to get Future Industries to make her a portable oscilloscope and multimeter. Although, those probably would have fried too. She made another mental note to harden all her portable electronics.

Kade wondered how she ended up surviving the blast, let alone being transported to this place. Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure she was in the Spirit World and if she was, was she dead? Was this what the afterlife was like? If so, why did she still feel physical effects like cold and hunger? Was it all in her mind? She tried to imagine herself in the Si Wong desert, the hottest and driest on Earth. No avail. She continued to shiver, teeth chattering.

"Well, looks like I've only got one option," Kade thought to herself. Raising her gloved fist to the thick, translucent, crystal-like door, she hoped that the snow giant would be friendly and helpful.

"HI THERE!" shouted a voice from a head that popped out within the peripheral of her view. It was so sudden that Kade whirled around and lost her footing on the icy platform. She almost managed to regain her balance from flailing her arms around but one of the oversized entrance doors flung open with ease and knocked her back with the force of a Satomobile. She was tossed off the platform and onto the glossy stairs which led down the side of the mountain. The last image that stuck with Kade before things went black was the terrifying face of the snow giant, watching her fall from the opened door, with dark empty sockets where its eyes should have been.

170 AG

- 5 years ago -

"Kade! Working hard, that's what I like to see!" exclaimed a grey-haired man in his late 50s, as he walked through the entrance door.

"Hey dad, welcome home," said Kade from the dining room table. In front of her were blueprints layered on top of each other, with pencils, pens, erasers, rulers and markers sprawled across the table. In one hand Kade held a long piece of blubbered seal jerky and in the other a pencil.

"How long have you been sitting there? And where's your mother?" inquired Kames, as he set down his briefcase to take off his stylish brown long-coat. It was late winter in the United Republic of Nations' capital, Republic City.

"Um, about nine hours?" said Kade with a guilty grin after she looked at the clock, the smaller hand pointing to 4, "and Mom brought Yaisie to dance class. It's Thursday, remember?"

"Ah yes. Guess it's up to us to cook tonight," sighed Kames. "Why didn't you go to the office today?"

"Weeellll… Let's just say I had an idea during breakfast and it took over before I could get out the front door," smiled Kade, as innocently as possible. She stood up to stretch, pencil and jerky still in hand. The Kallios were an upper-middle class family living in a well-furnished 3-story home on the outskirts of the city. Kames watched as his daughter rose and noticed that she was still in her pajamas. He shook his head in disapproval.

"Listen, Mr. Sato might have given your department permission to work wherever and however you please, but that doesn't mean you should. It's important to show up to work. It's important to get to know your colleagues and to have your presence known, especially since you're new," said Kames, as he tried to reason with his daughter.

"Dad, I was practically apprenticing at Future Industries for 4 years while going to school. Quite a number of people there know me thanks to you," she scoffed. "And while I may be new to our CEO's star squad, he trusts me to be productive. He hand-picked the team himself and you know what? The others don't go to the office either. I really haven't seen any of them. Don't worry, I won't let you or Future Industries down," she said softly, trying to reassure her father.

"Alright, alright," Kames raised his hands in mock defeat after having removed his steel-toed boots. "I trust you. I won't mention it again."

Kames Kallio was Mr. Sato's best friend, he was even Mr. Sato's right-hand man, the Chief Engineer Officer. Kade suspected they were friends before she was born, almost like brothers. As a result, her and Mr. Sato's daughter, Asami, had grown up together as friends, playing together with other kids of prominent people in the city during weekly parties that Mr. Sato would throw in their home. The grown-ups would play Pai Sho and Mah Jong for Yuan while the kids would amuse themselves around the premises. Kade remembered playing a lot of hide and seek, card games and eating a variety of delectable dishes that families would bring for potluck. They were the happiest childhood memories she had. Asami and Kade could have been really close but the day her father found out she was an earthbender, Kade's whole life changed.

When Kade was 8 years old she attempted to pluck a fruit just out of reach. From under the mango tree in her backyard she wished she was taller while on the tips of her toes… and suddenly she was. The ground gently raised beneath her, it was like magic. She kept doing it again and again until all the ripe mangos were plucked. She went inside to tell her family but they hadn't reacted positively at all. Besides being angry about the ruined lawn around the short tree, Kade's father sat her down and told her sternly to never earthbend again. Kames' resentment towards benders was passed down by his own father Thames, having had a childhood without a father himself. Kade's great-grandmother Miram accidentally killed her husband Hayde during a farming accident. Being poor and from a remote village in the Earth Kingdom, she hadn't had any formal training with earthbending and thus didn't know how to control her ability. One day, by freak accident, she sneezed and formed a deep crater around her. Her husband noticed it too late while walking through their cornfield; he fell in head-first and died. Miram's son, Thames, grew to resent bending after the tragedy and made sure that his own two children felt the same.

As for Kade, besides learning about the family history, her fear towards bending amplified after a tragedy befell the Sato family the same year. The Sato mansion had been broken into and Asami's mother was murdered during the raid. Kade still remembered the funeral for Mrs. Sato and the look on Asami's face. She wanted to be there for her friend but her father had forbidden it.

"Listen, Kade. I wanted for you and Asami to be the best of friends too, just like her father and myself. You're going to have to wait for that to happen though because you're young and you don't know how to control your bending. Asami's mother was just killed by a bender, she won't want to be friends with any of their kind after that. I know it's not your fault that you were born this way, but every person has a choice to use it. This is a big secret within the family, but I trust you to keep it so I'll tell you. Your uncle was also a bender but he swore to your grandfather that he would never use it, in memory of your great-grandfather. He's kept that promise until today and lives a very happy life. He doesn't fear hurting his family and even became a world renown professor of mathematics because of how studious he was. So do not worry, you will have the help you need and you'll see, a life without bending is much more worthwhile," said Kames to his daughter after the funeral, almost 12 years ago.

From then on, Kade did her best to hide her earthbending. Mr. Sato stopped throwing parties after the incident and so it was easy for Kames to dedicate all Saturdays to teaching his daughter. No longer did Kade play with the other children, all she had was her sister of 6 years her junior but even then they weren't close because of the age gap. Kade's uncle, Wolic, was an ex-firebender so he was able to teach her about the fundamentals of bending to be mindful of the power she possessed. He taught her about chi and how emotions play a big part in manipulating the elements. He taught her the importance of introspection and self-awareness through meditation. Then, by being self-aware of her emotions, Wolic taught her how to calm her mind and find inner peace. He told her that by keeping control of her feelings she wouldn't have any unexpected outbursts of earthbending. When Kade turned 11, Wolic became confident that his niece had the ability to stabilize herself and so his brother took over her training.

Kames remembered the type of regiment his father put them through when they were younger. It was primarily for Wolic's benefit, but those exercises strengthened their bond as brothers and taught them they could do anything they set their mind to. He decided to do the same with Kade. Every Saturday until she turned 17, he would bring in a teacher to train her in martial arts and chi blocking. Eventually he would come up with scenarios to put her in physical peril, expecting her to survive without the use of earthbending. It was instinct to create a wall of earth around herself for protection but her father became even more furious and would hit her with a wooden strip of bamboo. He expected her to not use earthbending as a reaction to pain, just like him and his brother were taught to be strong when they were young, he told Kade. She still hated her father for having put her through it. Her mother knew he was training her but Kade did not dare say to what extent for fear of breaking up the family.

Over time, however, under her father's guidance, Kade began to believe in the detriment of benders to society. Her father idealized a world where everyone was equal and talked of the mind being humankind's greatest strength. The hatred for her father eventually grew to understanding and she even believed him when he said it was all for her own good, for a harmonious future with her neighbours and loved ones. For Kade, she imagined Asami's suffering as the result of bending so she disassociated herself completely from being a bender, from being someone capable of such monstrosities. And one day, she realized, all of the earth around her remained still despite her endangerment. Kames was beyond pleased and vowed to teach Kade how to harness the power of her mind. "Through willpower," he said, "you will find your strength."

Kames introduced his eldest child to his work which sparked her interest in engineering. By the time she entered high school, Kames was proud of his daughter for taking after him and was confident that she no longer needed any training. After graduation, Kade went to Republic City University for electronics engineering while visiting Future Industries between classes. Technology was her life. Kade shadowed and lent a hand to every project on the go. She was the only person to have been so interested, the only non-employee to have been granted the privilege. Mr. Sato saw the potential and kept an eye out for her. So when she graduated, Kade already had a job. Her title was 'Junior Electronics Engineer'. She worked in a top secret department which focused on technology for combat use. Surprising to Kade herself, she had an aptitude for it. She had an idea, pitched it to Mr. Sato and was given the freedom to design and develop it on her own.

Kade scarfed down the rest of her jerky and began to collect the scattered stationary to put in a small case. Kames made his way over, curious as to what his daughter had been working on. "Mind if I take a look?" he asked before she could roll up the blueprints.

"Sure, but it's not complete yet," answered Kade with a hint of apprehension. Kade's project was top secret but her father had a clearance above even that. Still, she didn't like showing incomplete work to others unless they were helping.

Kames made his way around the table and flipped through the stack of detailed drawings. He seemed impressed. "Did you come up with this idea by yourself?"

"Well, not entirely. Uncle's teachings about chi gave me the idea. There's clothing out there that is resistant to chi blocking so I'm trying to invent something that'll overcome it."

"Fascinating. To think, my daughter… attempting to level the playing field between benders and nonbenders. I'm sure Hiroshi will be pleased. Have you thought of a name?"

"Thanks, dad," smiled Kade smugly, feeling good about herself. "I'm going to call them what they are, electrified gloves."

Author's Notes:

Hello, friend!
Thanks for giving my story a chance! Hopefully the idea of my OC (Original Character) Kade Kallio has piqued your interest enough to subscribe for more. ;)

I admit, this story will have more focus on OCs than Team Avatar (even though I love them) because I'm trying to create a side-story about a character in hopes of enhancing the Avatarverse as we know it. While I don't necessarily want to restrict myself, I can tell you (at this point in time) it is my intention for Kade to have a minimal impact on the events which unfold in the true Legend of Korra storyline. However, you can rest assure she will be running into and interacting with many of the characters that you know.

If you'd like to know more about my thought-process for this to-be-novel-length fanfiction, feel free to check out my blogspot as stated on my profile.
It's my goal to write at least 10,000 words a month until I hit 400,000. Even if I don't hit that mark within this story, a sequel is already in the works.

Thanks again for your time. *bows* Until next we meet!
-Taika